Minneota hosts tournament

Mudhen’s Sonnenburg voted Tournament Most Valuable Player.

June 23, 2014

MINNEOTA - The Hadley Buttermakers defeated the Tracy Express 11-8 in eight innings in the second game of the Minneota Tournament Saturday. The game was tied 8-8 after seven innings before a two-run home run by Trent Carlson helped the Buttermakers pull away in the eighth. Max Zwart, who was pitching in relief, rallied off three straight strikeouts to end the game with the bases loaded.

"I was just leaving the ball up a little bit," Zwart said. "That's where I was getting in trouble. The last three guys, I was able to get the ball down and located better. That's the only way I can describe it."

Zwart did plenty of work from the plate as well, going 4-for-5 with a double and had four RBI. Zwart drove in the opening run in the top of the eighth with an RBI double to give the Buttermakers a 9-8 lead. The Buttermakers got two from Carlson on his home run and one from Alex Petersen.

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Hadley's Nate Wieneke connects with a pitch during the Buttermakers 11-8 victory over the Tracy Express Saturday. Wieneke would go 1-for-5 and have three walks.

They scored three runs off Express errors.

Shay Wabeke led the Express with two RBI, while Eric Wiering and Dean Rohlik each had one.

With the game concluding in a wild finish, Hadley manager Myron Bennett was glad to have his team come out on top.

"We've had some wild finishes this season go the other way," Bennett said. "It was nice to have a wild finish go our way for once and be on the right end of it. It was a great, entertaining ball game right down to the wire."

For Tracy coach Wes Hoflock, the game came down to missed opportunities on his side.

"We had bases loaded at the end and we just couldn't get them in," Hofflock said. "A base hit there would have got them in and we would have gone farther into extra innings. We had opportunities there at the end. I was happy with the way the guys played."

Hofflock felt his team's offensive output against Hadley and Minneota, who they played earlier in the day, were the team's best offensive outputs of the season.

He is liking the progress the team is making as the playoffs approach.

"We're trending that way," Hofflock said. "Our last three out of four games, we've lost by one run. We're getting there and we're peaking at the time we need to with the playoffs coming up."

Minneota 13

Hadley 3

Running out of arms, Hadley couldn't keep with Minneota in the second game of the tournament, losing 13-3.

Tyson Sonnenburg batted a perfect 3-for-3 for the Mudhens, driving in one RBI and also finishing with a double.

They got two RBI from Justin Greenwood, who also doubled and one RBI from Derek Buysse, who finished with two doubles.

Jesus Macias also had a double while the Mudhens also got hits from Doug Mead, Justin Myhre, Alec Engler, Beau Buysse and Danny Hennen.

Chris Halbur was the main source of offense for the Buttermakers, going 2-for-3 with a home run and an RBI. Max Zwart and Jordan Ahlers also had RBI.

Alex Petersen and Trent Carlson each finished with one hit.

Hennen picked up the win on the mound for Minneota, going six innings while striking out seven and walking two.

Minneota 12

Tracy 11

In the opening round game of the tournament, Minneota defeated Tracy 12-11.

Doug Mead drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring Josh Bednarek.

The winning run was one of Mead's two RBI on the game while Alex Buysse had two and Bednarek also had two.